Why is information security becoming more and more important at present?

host n – масса, множество

invade v – вторгаться, захватывать

mitigate v – уменьшать, сдерживать

pace n – скорость, темп

patch v – восстанавливать, исправлять

proprietary adj – частный, составляющий чью-либо собственность

prosecution n – судебное преследование, обвинение

secure v – защищать, охранять

theft n – воровство, кража

ubiquitous adj – вездесущий, повсеместный

Information security is a concept that becomes ever more enmeshed in many aspects of our society, largely as a result of our nearly ubiquitous adoption of computing technology. In our everyday lives, many of us work with computers for our employers, play on computers at home, go to school online, buy goods from merchants on the Internet, take our laptops to the coffee shop and check our e-mail, carry our smartphones on our hips and use them to check our bank balances, track our exercise with sensors in our shoes, and so on, ad infinitum.

Although this technology enables us to be more productive and allows us to access a host of information with only a click of the mouse, it also carries with it a host of security issues. If the information on the systems used by our employers or our banks becomes exposed to an attacker, the consequences can be dire indeed. We could suddenly find ourselves bereft of funds, as the contents of our bank account are transferred to a bank in another country in the middle of the night. Our employer could lose millions of dollars, face legal prosecution, and suffer damage to its reputation because of a system configuration issue allowing an attacker to gain access to a database containing personally identifiable information (PII) or proprietary information. We see such issues appear in the media with disturbing regularity.

   If we look back 30 years, such issues related to computer systems were nearly nonexistent, largely due to the low level of technology and the few people who were using what was in place. Although technology changes at an increasingly rapid rate, and specific implementations arise on a seemingly daily basis, much of the theory that discusses how we go about keeping ourselves secure changes at a much slower pace and does not always keep up with the changes to our technology. If we can gain a good understanding of the basics of information security, we are on a strong footing to cope with changes as they come along.

What is security?

Information security is defined as “protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction”.  In essence, it means we want to protect our data and our systems from those who would seek to misuse it.

In a general sense, security means protecting our assets. This may mean protecting them from attackers invading our networks, natural disasters, adverse environmental conditions, power failures, theft or vandalism, or other undesirable states. Ultimately, we will attempt to secure ourselves against the most likely forms of attack, to the best extent we reasonably can.

When Are We Secure?

Defining the exact point at which we can be considered secure presents a bit of a challenge. Defining when we are insecure is a much easier task, and we can quickly list a number of items that would put us in this state:

· Not patching our systems

· Using weak passwords such as “password” or “1234”

· Downloading programs from the Internet

· Opening e-mail attachments from unknown senders

· Using wireless networks without encryption.

We could go on for some time creating such a list. The good thing is that once we are able to point out the areas in an environment that can cause it to be insecure; we can take steps to mitigate these issues. Although we may never get to a state that we can definitively call “secure,” we can take steps in the right direction.

Task 2.Translate the following derivative groups:

secure, security, insecure;

protect, protection, protected, unprotected;

compute, computer, computing;

attack, attacker;

exist, existence, existing, nonexistent;

implement, implementation;

understand, understandable, understanding, misunderstanding;

use, usable, useful, useless, misuse;

environment, environmental;

desire, desired, desirable, undesirable.

Task 3.Translate the following word combinations:

A host of information; a host of security issues; and so on, ad infinitum; in essence; in a general sense; a database containing proprietary information; due to the low level of technology; adverse environmental conditions; at an increasingly rapid rate; at a much slower pace; a much easier task; unauthorized access; natural disasters; the basics of information security; a number of items.

Task 4. Answer the questions:

Why is information security becoming more and more important at present?

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